mitt romney. >> jon: that is a wrap on news watch this week. thanks to our panel. i'm jon scott. thanks for joining us. keep it right here on fox news channel. we will see you next week. >> gregg: president obama and mitt romney gearing up their second debate. governor romney will look to keep his momentum going after a strong debated performance last week-week in denver. president obama meanwhile, has promised a more aggressive style in round two. welcome to a brand-new hour inside america's election headquarters. we have live team coverage of the candidates final sprint to

election day. ed henry following the president in the state of virginia where he is hunk, down and chief political correspondent carl cameron with governor romney where he is holding two rallies. let's go to carl in lebanon? >> parts of ohio -- so much so -- big bird is part of the campaign talk. >> gregg: we do apologize for some of the audio break up in carl cameron's piece which he is fro lebanon, ohio right now. we'll get back to him in a moment. now to virginia where president obama will spend the next three days preparing for tuesday's rematch with his republican rivals.

ed henry is live in williamsburg with more. >> president is at the resort. great family atmosphere. president will probably be cooped up indoors a bit. everybody knows that after the first debate even his own advisors he didn't get the job done. they are expecting a lot more at the university in new york. there be closed door prep briefing to get him ready for that second debate. interesting because if you contrast the president's performance in the first debate is what president biden did in kentucky. take a listen how jay carney yesterday at the white house briefing described the vice president's performance. >> i took extreme pleasure in watching the debate last night because of the way that he demonstrated his passion and his wisdom and the joy that he brings to the job of serving the

american people as vice president and working with this president to bring about positive change for the middle-class and for this country. >> reporter: you heard from jay carney. contrast going on about the passion that vice president biden brought to his debate in sharp contrast to the fact that even democrats have acknowledged that the president didn't make a strong a case as even as vice president did in his debate. that is why he has to bring more. he will be hitting the campaign trail after tuesday night's debate and president will be going to iowa and ohio and spreading out surrogates, bill clinton and bruce springsteen are going to be working in ohio, key battleground that both sides desperately wanted. bruce springsteen for kerr ri.

they are hoping bruce springsteen along with bill clinton they will lead the vote in some of these key states. >> gregg: thanks so much for that. the search for a missing ten-year-old girl comes to a tragic end. colorado police now confirming that a body found earlier in a park is indeed of jessica ridgeway. little girl vanished while walking to school. dan is live in westminster, colorado. dan? we do flow this is a massive investigation. there are hundreds of cops, state and local working this case. there was a briefing today. this community is in fear. they want this solved at quickly as possible. there is a strong belief that

the killer is local. the naked in little park where she was abducted is very isolated. that is why police are asking for the public's help to report anyone that is acting out of the ordinary. >> our focus has changed from a search for jessica to a mission of justice for jessica. >> denver suburb of hundred thousand residents has a small town feel. people are coming together united with their grief for jessica and fear of a monster on the loose. kids are getting counseling. there a crisis center that has been set up in the city. purple balloons are going up in a couple of hours. one neighbor told me he robbed a beautiful young life and put a whole community on lockdown. you don't see kids out playing without parents watching them.

>> we need to find him. >> reporter: and colorado governor called this an unthinkable end to an unthinkable crime in this community. >> gregg: dan springer live in westminster, colorado's. thanks very much. >> patti ann: after governor romney's strong debate performance last week, new polls show that the debate tightening in nearly a dozen battleground states. what does it mean in the final weeks of campaign season. jamie weanstein is co-author of the shocking inside account of obama's ambitions by an anonymous white house staffer. thank you for joining us. what does president obama need to do to get some momentum back? >> certainly on tuesday he has a chance to reverse his terrible debate performance of october 3rd. that will be another big national stage moment with

millions of viewers turning in. if he can try to pick the moey l momentum away from mitt romney during that debate perhaps he can turn the tide. right now the momentum seems to be romney's favor. >> let's talk specifically about battleground states, wisconsin, pennsylvania, new hampshire and michigan were all leading in obama and now considered toss-ups. let's start with wisconsin. what is happening there? >> all those four states as you said were switched by real clear politics. in wisconsin that is where paul ryan is from, mitt romney's running mate. that is only a 2-point race in wisconsin. you have to remember, this is state where back in june there was recall election against scott walker. he won the race. he demoralized the democrats. a lot of activists were saying because president obama didn't come strong in favor of the

democratic candidate, it demoralized a lot of democrats there. turnout could be very important. if the democratic turnout is not high, you might see mitt romney win that state. >> patti ann: meanwhile, florida where he is romney is enjoying a 2% advantage. we have david plouffe saying, we are going to get the senior citizens and hispanics. we are going to get florida? >> it's a crucial state for romney to win, one of two of most crucial states, florida and ohio. there is another poll out, tampa bay times poll that shows romney is up by 7. obama campaign disputes the poll that the hispanic voters are not as close as that poll shows. that is pretty significant lead in florida with rom up 7. he certainly as the momentum.

that would be a crucial at a time for him on his way to the presidency. >> you mentioned ohio where the president has had a lead for months. it has shrunk all the way down to statistical dead heat. >> no candidate has won the presidency in 1964 without winning ohio. only one candidate has won the presidency since 1948. this is a state that usually a bellwether. it's going to be no different this year. right now carl cameron is watching the rally there. that is where the candidates are spending a lot of time putting a lot of ads. romney is narrowly down by 2 percentage points. i would think as goes ohio, goes this election. whoever wins ohio will win the election. >> patti ann: north carolina, romney was leading but now high is leading by more. what about north carolina? >> i think this is going to be romney's election. they have it in the toss-up

category. president obama won it very narrowly in 2008. everybody agrees that it's different in 2008 but the enthusiasm is not there as it was in 2008. so i think that will be a romney win. >> patti ann: virginia is tied and obama a lead. that is toss-up state, too? >> virginia has become more democratic over the years. it's going to be close race there. both candidates are focusing their ads there and if the momentum continues that could certainly swing to romney. >> patti ann: small states, iowa with just six votes and nevada with six and new hampshire with four. folks are saying, that could be your margin of victory for either candidate. don't discounted the small states? >> exactly. when you add some of these states up, the way you do the math, you start adding different

categories, sometimes the candidate needs one stated or four or five electoral votes could win. that could be new hampshire, that could be iowa, that could be nevada. depending on how things could turn out it could be 269 to 269 that would send the race to the house of representatives. >> patti ann: could be very interesting election season. thank you so much for joining us. >> gregg: a fox extreme weather alert now. we have a fox news alert on a powerful storm system right in ountry. parts of texas and oklahoma are under a tornado watch now. meteorologist maria molina in the fox extreme weather center. west terse are out and about? >> possibility, gregg. hi, good to see you. possibility of severe weather in parts of texas, all the way into

portions of the midwest including the state of iowa and also in the state of illinois. pretty much that section of the country that could be looking at large hail and damaging wind gusts. we do have a tornado watch that is in effect until 9:00 p.m. central time. that is local time in parts of oklahoma and north central portions of texas. we have strong storms that are fired up along the tornado watch area. what a watch means conditions are favorable for thunderstorms to develop that could produce tornadoes. when it's a warning, that means there could be a currently a tornado on the ground or what has been spotted. that means you need to seek shelter immediately. no tornado warnings are in effect but a number of severe thunderstorm warnings meaning strong winds in central oklahoma and north central texas. as it continue to push eastward, more severe weather in parts of southern parts of iowa and into portions of missouri, arkansas

and also across kansas. a large section of the country could be looking at severe weather as we head into overnight hours. tomorrow it will be pushing eastward and very warm air ahead of it that will be fueling the thunderstorms. tomorrow will be further eastward across northern portions of mississippi, kentucky and also southwestern parts of iowa -- of ohio. several days of ongoing possible severe weather. it is typical to be seeing this type of activity but the primary concern with severe weather is during the months of spring. we have cold air dipping from canada and it's reacting with the warm air left over from summer so more active weather here. >> gregg: and storm chasers have their gasoline tanks filled up. >> we hope everybody that lives there is ready. >> gregg: listen to your weather alerts.

maria, thanks very much. >> patti ann: desperate search for a missing mother and two daughters. we'll have the very latest on developing story next. >> plus, dozens of military vets returning from the battlefields of iraq and afghanistan are taking on a new mission. how they will now be saving lives here at home. [ bag pipes playing ] 4

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>>. >> gregg: at least 17 people now dead, 40 more injured after a car bomb tore through a crowded marketplace in western pakistan. blast went outside an office for anti-taliban tribal leaders. they are searching for an illinois mom and two young daughters. they were reported missing a week ago. the storm is pounding the eastern caribbean with heavy rains that could cause severe flooding. that storm is about 135 miles south-southeast of st. croiix. >> they fought for our freedom overseas. they are fighting to save lives.

nearly every member of latest class of firefighters is military vet. anna is live new york city newsroom. >> reporter: the city of newark has a new class of firefighters that why were heroes before they put on a uniform. nearly all the recruits are veterans, 28 out of 31 and it's not a coincidence. there is new push across the country to hire veterans when they return home. job searching is one of many struggles they experience while putting their lives back together. last month the unemployment rate was 9.7% for veterans of the wars in iraq and afghanistan. compared to the national average of 7.8%. >> at one point in my career to get home it was very hard to find work. the g.i. fund, they helped me out. >> we have to create a home for our brave.

that means jobs and opportunities that show the heroism overseas. this is tremendous. >> the fund a nonprofit organization to help veterans make transition to civilian life help with recruitment. they held career fairs. military experienced most of the recruits made their 12 week training period extra competitive. >> exact same see a building on fire, i'll go in, give me the hose and ladder. i'll do it. it's something that god put in there. i'm going to defend my neighbors. take care of my friends and family and people i care about. that is what makes them so special. >> washington state and massachusetts do give veterans preference in their civil service exams. boston fire department recruited 49 veterans this year. and a bill that would establish a one billion dollar jobs program is currently stalled in

congress. >> patti ann: anna, thanks. >> gregg: troop withdrawal nearing completion, officers are stepping up to make sure that afghan police are ready to protect their people. we'll be live on the ground with a look at the specialized training. romney-ryan ticket riding a wave of momentum following strong debate perform answers, but will it take to keep the tides from turning yet again in the final weeks before election day. >> i am inspired by the people i see. i know that a president is able to lead and draw on the american spirit and call on american greatness will overcome the challenges we have. but with advair, i'm breathing better. so now i can be in the scene. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function.

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the news, a new federal bush p usual to stop a violent street gang. feds are making illegal to do business with ms-13. >> gregg: senior officials say that u.s. is in cyber war with iran, recently hitting energy companies and concerns over future attack costs be more sophisticated. >> patti ann: party atmosphere greeting space shuttle endeavour. pausing along the root route to a new home at a science museum in l.a.. >> gregg: new fallout over biden's claim that intelligence officials are to blame for the administration's changing account of the u.s. embassy attack in benghazi libya. vice president making those comments during thursday night's debate with paul ryan. molly henneberg is live on this. >> molly: a former c.i.a. director and former homeland

security secretary is saying that biden link the libya attack to a protest over that video erroneously because the intelligence community was providing that information. general michael hayden who led the c.i.a. and michael chertoff, both officials in bush administration they are, quote, disappointed by the vice president's remark. it is clear that any failure was not on the part of the intelligence community but on the part of the white house decision makers who should have listened to and acted on available intelligence. vice president also said the white house has not been alerted to any additional requests for security in libya. white house clarified that security decisions for embassy facilities are made by the state department. they countered the idea that the administration should have done more to prevent the attack. >> no actionable intelligence

that suggested there would be an attack at benghazi facility, absolutely, categorically that is fact. >> molly: still congress wants to know more, a house committee started investigating this week and now the senate homeland security committee it will do the same. senate committee wants to know what happened and why and why the obama administration's quote initial public assessments of the attack were subsequently proven inaccurate. >> patti ann: nato special forces are putting some of the top police officers through elite training. this sort of training mission is key to plans for the 2014 withdrawal but it comes after green on blue attacks which afghan security forces opened fired on nato trainers. lieutenant colonel north is streaming live from hellman province in afghanistan. >> nato commanders maintain that

these green on blue attacks have failed to drive a wedge between the united states and our allies that those special forces that are being trained, we want to see for ourselves. >> these are afghan special police at the nato training center here in the province. the hand picked police officers sent here for advanced training to master skills necessary to protect the afghan people from the taliban. training here is conducted by nato special operators and experienced american law officers. this year, 600 graduates will return to their units in hand-to-hand combat, fire qualification on every weapon in their arsenal.

patrolling, live fire with the battle one member called, fish, fighting in someone's house. today afghan police forces around the country that are competent, committed and capable of standing on their own. >> most important thing in all of this is to make sure that when the united states does pull back, as obama says he wants to, that the afghans are ready to go. the interesting part of this despite projecting and telling the enemy when we are leaving, these americans like the ones i am down with right now in hellman province, third battalion, they are making sure that that progress is being made. difficult though as it has been because of telling anybody when we are leaving. >> patti ann: they are brave and determined guys.

colonel, has this interfered with the return of the bases to the afghans? >> it's made it more difficult. when you tell the enemy what you are going to do they have vote in all of this. it remains to be seen as we posted that date of 2013, exactly who else is going to leave and what units are going to be replaced. this battalion will be pulling out shortly. we can't say exactly when. they will be replaced in this area because this was one of deadliest parts of this country until they came down and pacified it. >> patti ann: oliver north, thank you. >> gregg: governor mitt romney and congressman paul ryan hitting the campaign trail with new energy after strong debate performances and a favorable bounce in the polls. sudden shift proving that this

tight race for the white house could change literally overnight. how does the republican ticket keep up the momentum before election day? joining us is diane black who is a romney campaign surrogate. good to see you. you know, regaining or taking the lead numerically in the polls is obviously important to governor romney but maintaining the trend line, that is even more vital. how does he go about doing that? >> i think that both ryan and romney need to do what they are doing right now, go to directly to the american people and give them their plan. most people need to hear something seven times before it actually sinks in. just continuing to do what they have done so far and just being very articulate. >> gregg: let me stop you there. the criticism of that plan, in terms of the approach of

reducing tax marginal tax rates and increasing revenues and the cost it might add to the deficit is criticized as being non-specific. how do they respond to that? >> governor romney has laid out a framework. any time you have a plan such as this, you don't want to put all the details out there because there are negotiations that need to take place. the framework has been looked up by six different independent organizations including those from harvard and princeton. to say this plan will work. so the details don't need to be out there right now. the framework is very clear about what mitt romney and paul ryan want to do to strengthen our middle-class. >> gregg: i might say that the tax policy center which is cited by the obama campaign it's going to cost five trillion has been said by the director of the to

be completely untrue. let me move on. the president has added two new things to his campaign speeches. he tells his audiences he says romney wants to kill big bird but more credibly he points to the unemployment rate that drops below 8%. it shows the economy under his leadership is moving in the right direction. how should romney respond to that? >> i think he should respond with the facts. facts are there are 23 million people who are looking for employment. they are either under employment or unemployed or they have given up. this is the friend. it's gone on for 43 straight months. president and his own campaign and we can look back at his word if he didn't have unemployment under control by the first term he didn't deserve to be re-elected. frankly we look at the number that came out recently, it's one number, but if you look at work

participation the number of people that have dropped out of the work force and add them back to the work participation, it would be 10.7, almost 11%. >> gregg: g.d.p. growth rate is going in the wrong direction. you attended the debate on thursday. as the images of that night continue to sink in the days and weeks ahead, do you think voters will remember less the substance and more the antics of joe biden interrupting 82 times and smirking through discussions what is quite frankly very serious and somber matters? >> frankly, i live in the south. we really don't like that kind of i am polite behavior, i don't think it went over well at least in the community i live in. beyond that, i'm not surprised that joe biden did what he did.

after all, he and president cannot live on their accomplishments. at this point in the campaign at least in my experience in my campaign, i would be out there selling what i did. i would be showing how my promises have been fulfilled. we have broken promises, we have failed policies. frankly you can't live on that, what do you is get loud ear and louder. then we have paul ryan who did a good job on showing what they have as a plan. >> gregg: let me ask you about that. biden used the word fact more than 30 times during the debate. ryan used it once. vice president's facts seem in shorts supply. you can check out the editorial in "new york post." he voted against the two wars. we know he voted for the wars. under obama's plan taxes would rise for those making one million or more only forcing the

white house that is not true either. he cited the american enterprise study that taxes are going up for the middle-class under romney's plan, in fact the study says the exact opposite. his statement about contraception and catholic institutions was immediately disabused by the conference of catholic bishops yesterday. what did you think of those things? as you are sitting there, what are you thinking? >> i was not in the audience because i was very small audience. i did not have the opportunity to be right there. i was sitting in a room that was adjacent to the audience. of course, having been there in congress for the last two years, i knew many of these things being said is incorrect. when asked afterwards by a number of the news agencies about what i thought about it, i think the fact checkers are going to be very busy all night long and during the next day because there were a lot of facts that were incorrect.

>> gregg: we found one or two facts that were incorrect on ryan's part but the lion's share was on biden's parted. thank you very much for being with us. >> great to be with you. >> patti ann: leading economists says we are heading for a fiscal cliff if we continue the path we are on. a look what it could mean for your financial future coming up. a bachelor party comes to a screaming halt when his get a little wet and wild. why the guys were forced to wear life vests. >> quite memorable. >> it was quite memorable. it's something i will never forget. [ male announcer ] how do you measure happiness?

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>>. >> gregg: an incredible coastguard rescue in san francisco. a bachelor party enjoying a cruise around the bay. after they passed alcatraz

island, the boat hit an unknown object and took on water. one of passengers describes the scene. >> we were in the bolt about 20 minutes. we hit a rock and it was a big jolt. everyone thought it was cool. all of a sudden it wasn't that cool. >> gregg: it took two coastguard boats to rescue all the passengers. happy to say nobody was injured. not that cool. [ laughter ] >> patti ann: mounting concerns over the looming fiscal cliff. a combination of automatic spending cuts and the expiration of the bush tax cuts as we arrive closer to 2013. some economists remain optimistic about u.s. stocks but they are warning that marketed could lose 10% of its value if something isn't done. what could this mean and for your 401-k. kyle harrington is managing

partner of harrington managing capital. a very financial money manager said a lot of time has been spent at the imf meetings discussing the fiscal cliff. they are actually two cliffs, one in europe but also the cliff in the u.s. he says we could go over in the next few months. do you agree with that? >> i do. it's about time we spent some time focusing in on this issue in my opinion. i have been saying this since the beginning of the year. the looming crisis of whether or not tax rates are going up significantly or they are going to extend the tax cuts by george bush is very important issue. yes, it can affect the way that investors think about the equity markets, the way they think about putting money to work in their portfolio in order to get a rate of return. so when there is uncertainty that looms around these issues,

investors -- i've been in the business for 20 years -- what they tend to do is take their money and go home and not play anymore. then what happens you can have a very significant slow down, very rapidly as lawrence fink has outlined he is thinking the market could sell off significantly. >> patti ann: 5-10% by the end of the year. what would this do to the average 401-k? >> that is the thing. these issues hit home quickly. retirement accounts that are very important to people as they enter the age of retirement. when you have hundred thousand dollar portfolio and you are going to lose $10,000, if he is right. those numbers might be a little large, 5% i could see as a correction within the market, you could lose $10,000. >> patti ann: what did you do

should you do as an investor if you are close to retirement? >> i think more than ever, i outline this at the beginning of the year, you got to pay particular attention to your accounts and whether you do that yourself or you hire a trusted financial advisor that you've spent time with and you understand their mentality and their philosophy. but you have to pay more attention to your finances as these major issues become significantly important. >> patti ann: we mentioned europe, spain now the focus of the debt crisis there. it's been ongoing. how serious will the latest crisis get and what impact will that have on us? >> another example of something that affects us right here at home and right in your retirement account. spain and italy and greece we've seen have trouble managing their country's income statement and incur debts they can no longer pay and have the threat of

insolvency. as you invested in mutual funds in your 401-k or ira that has international exposure, guess what? those funds can be hurt significantly in terms of their market value. in addition as you own stocks of companies that sell to these markets, whether it be staples like coca-cola or kimberly clashing, they can hurt as well as their sales decline as a result of countries that are having trouble financially. >> patti ann: we got keep an eye on lot of different scenarios out there. thank you. >> gregg: secretary of state hillary clinton defending security u.s. consulate and cease throughout the world in the wake of that deadly attack in benghazi. but what sort of message is he is sending to the world and, indeed, to all of our diplomats everywhere?

we'll take a closer look at that. >> no one wants to find out exactly what happened more than i do. of coursovernment is sparing no effort in tracking down the terrorists who perpetrated this attack. [ male announcer ] wouldn't it be cool if we took the nissan altima and reimagined nearly everything in it? gave it greater horsepower and best in class 38 mpg highway... advanced headlights... and zero gravity seats? yeah, that would be cool. ♪ introducing the completely reimagined nissan altima. it's our most innovative altima ever. nissan. innovation that excites. ♪

>>. >> gregg: hillary clinton responding to criticism of security following a deadly terror attack on the u.s. consulate in libya. her speech at the center for strategic and international studies coming a day after the murder of an employee on his way to the u.s. embassy in yemen. >> we will never prevent every acted of violence or terrorism or achieve perfect security. our people cannot live in bunkers and do their jobs. >> gregg: so what message does it send to those no risk their lives to serve america? steven yates is a deputy assistant to dick cheney for national security affairs. steven, good to see you. by saying the words, quote, will never achieve perfect security, is secretary clinton implying that the murders in benghazi would have happened even if her department had agreed to the many requests for more security

there? >> i do believe, gregg, she is putting a bit of a false choice or straw man argument. perfection is not what people are calling in here. it's whether reasonable measures for adequate security had been given due consideration. it comes down to management of resources. not the question can you stop all violence coming your waying. >>. >> gregg: they were asked about management of resources. state department admitted under oath, yes, we did turn down repeated requests for more protection in benghazi, when they were asked why. they said, well, there is no evidence that more security would have stopped the attack. does that make sense to you? >> i find that astonishing, frankly. it's a tragedy and sometimes tragedies occur when the best of efforts are made. these are a lot of reasonable questions about these particular

circumstances that suggest reasonable measures were not, in fact, taken. we have $1.8 billion budget for diplomatic security. is that not sufficient to make sure there is adequate support for post conflict areas. >> gregg: there was a string of more than a dozen security attacks that threatened our assets in benghazi leading up to 9/11 anniversary attacks. so many of those incidents, former heads of security there said that these security lapses should have been totally obvious to everybody. if that is true, was there a failure of confidence either at the state department or the white house or both? >> i think there is a failure of confidence across the board. in the way they handled the information. if you take vice president biden at his word and secretary clinton at her word, information went to white house but not to

the president and vice president. why not? there were multiple requests for enhanced security that the president and vice president had no idea about. the picture wasn't clear, why did they push ambassador rice to give a narrative that has now proven false. there was a lot of decisions made in managing the issue in retrospect that look incompetent. >> gregg: during the debate, vice president biden blaming intelligence officials for the incorrect initial information. that prompted a pretty stinging rebuke from two intel officials, put it up on the screen. >> gregg: do you agree?

>> i agree completely. like many other people who have lived in the white house national security information environment, diplomatic cables, intelligence reporting. a lot of live information comes in. it's the duty of the people on deck there to get it to the national security advisor and chief of staff and it's their job to get it to the president and others. there is no excuse to ignore this information stream and by all accounts including sworn testimony before the congress, accurate information was coming in that has nothing to do with video, it did have something to do with al-qaeda and they said otherwise. >> gregg: the days and weeks ahead we suspect we'll be hear a lot more that will be shocking. thank you very much. >> patti ann: we are awaiting mitt romney's arrival in ohio. he is expected to speak within the hour. we'll bring it to you. ♪ ...reach one customer at a time? whatever your business challenge,

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>> gregg: hello, everyone. i'm gregg jarrett. welcome to a brander brand-new hour merchandise america's election headquarters. >> patti ann: i'm patti ann. in for heather childers. topping the news this hour, with the second of three presidential debates just around the corner, president obama and governor mitt romney are getting in some prep time today and in moments, we'll get live updates from our correspondents traveling with both campaigns. >> gregg: the mother of one of the four americans killed in libya demanding answers from the obama administration. now she's speaking out to fox

news. >> patti ann: severe storm threatening. bring the possibility of tornadoes. a live update from the fox weather center ahead. >> gregg: president obama, governor mitt romney crisscrossing key battle ground states as the final weeks of the campaign season begin to wind down. the candidates also prepping for their second debate showdown in new york on tuesday. today governor romney is in ohio where we are waiting a rally in lebanon, ohio. earlier the governor attended a rally with country music artist janie o'neil in portmouth. there he talked about his optimism for the nation's future. >> america's coming back! [ cheers and applause ] and i'm confident, i'm confident in our future. >> gregg: chief political

correspondent carl consume ron is on the phone traveling with governor romney in ohio. carl? >> we're about to pull into lebanon. it's still a while before the event. it's been a busy day for governor romney. this will be his third of the day. big rallies. earlier today, he criticized the president for essentially trivializing some of the great challenges the nation and the world faced. mr. romney he's objection is the president has been taking him to task for his remark at the last debate about want to go make tough cuts to things like pbs and romney is now counter attacking the president for making the muppets and sesame street and one principle actor there in big bird central to his campaign. listen. >> the income of the median family in america has gone down by $4,300 per family. in times like this, what is he talking about? saving big bird. when i'm president, i'm going to

help save the american family and get good jobs for every american! [ cheers and applause ] as i look around portsmouth today, let me tell you, his campaign is about smaller and smaller things and our campaign is about bigger and bigger crowds, fighting for a bright future. >> the crowds have been growing for him in ohio and cross the country, as has his position in the poll as he tightened it up in the battle ground states. paul ryan was on the stump. he went international, going after president obama as did mr. romney as well today, for failing to curb what both of them say is china's currency manipulation and unfair trade practices. this will be a big theme in the debate. here is paul ryan earlier today. >> the administration had their eighth chance to label china a currency manipulator. it's due in two days. they say they'll push this

deadline off until after the election. that's eight opportunities they had to say you know what? play fair with us. trade with us fairly. we've lost hundreds of thousands of jobs, according to one study, because of just this problem. >> mr. romney made it a hundred two punch by suggesting that the president has failed when it comes to expanding america's free trade overseas by his inability to both sign and negotiate any new trade pacts. the president has signed a few, but they were negotiated by president george w. bush and there is one that has been negotiated, but not yet signed because congress has yet to ratify it. so mr. romney making the case that the united states needs jobs and needs to be able to sell its products overseas and barak obama has failed in that department as well. gregg? >> gregg: carl cameron in lebanon, ohio, thank you very much. governor romney expected to take the stage very shortly, a bit later on in the hour. we'll bring it to you live when he does.

>> patti ann: right now president obama is hard at work in virginia getting ready for this week's second presidential debate. he faced some tough criticism from both sides of the aisle after the first debate. he is hoping to come back stronger on tuesday. ed henry is live with more in williamsburg, virginia. hi, ed. >> great to see you. they didn't pick virginia by accident. obviously the battle ground state is an opportunity to do debate prep in a state where you want to reach out to voters, you want to get in the local news here, sort of get the vote out if you will. the bottom line is the president knows he didn't get the job done in the first debate. you talked to a senior advisors, they know he's got to buckle down here. he's at a peaceful place. great weather in williamsburg. i don't think the president will enjoy too much of that. he's going to be behind closed doors for some of this prepping. they've added a new person to

the mix. ben rhodes will be part of this because national policy will be part of the town hall meeting on tuesday, in addition to domestic policy. also still has senator john kerry playing mitt romney, doing the preps. take listen to how jay carney yesterday at the white house briescribed the passionate performance by vice president biden in his debate and how that contrasts to the president's own performance. >> i took extreme pleasure in watching the debate last night because of the way that he demonstrated his passion and his wisdom and the joy that he brings to the job of serving the american people as vice president and of working with this president to bring about positive change for the middle class and for this country. >> notable because white house aides have been using words like passionate to describe the vice president's performance in

selling the president's policies when in fact, they didn't use the same words it describe the president's performance in the first debate in denver. spoke to one of the president's campaign spokes people. she says this about what the president is trying to do tuesday. the president is looking forward to answering questions from the american people who have a shared stake in where this country goes over the next four years. the question is not just which candidate connects with the questioner, but who has a better policies for the american people for the next four years and on that front, the president has a great advantage. that's their case. they'll be taking it to the american people not just through the president at the debate and then to ohio. but sending bruce springstein out, bill clinton out. they're doing a joint event in ohio. springstein and clinton thursday in ohio. we're told also bruce string stein will be performing in iowa on thursday on behalf of the president. something he did for john kerry in 2004. didn't quite work out that time of the he did a little for the president in 2008 as a candidate. they're hoping that two of their

biggest surrogate will help turn out the votes. >> patti ann: ed henry, thank you. last hour we spoke to the romney team. we will now hear from the obama campaign. the communications director is here for obama for america. thank you for joining us. >> thanks for having me on. >> patti ann: one of the main rebulletses from the obama camp was romney was misleading in the debate about his policies. if that's the case, why wouldn't the president have been prepared to respond on the spot to whatever response he felt romney was making? >> look, the mitt romney that showed up in denver was a mitt romney that was very different from the man we've seen on the stump. he tried to walk away from a number of key positions, including $5 trillion tax cut fort wealthiest. he failed to say what he would do to replace wall street and obamacare. what the romney-ryan ticket is trying to sell is different than what they were trying to sell

before. we believe they're going to hold to those conservative position if elected and i think the president will show up in new york ready to call him on as the vice president put it, on their malarky. >> patti ann: some analysts are saying speak of malarky, that's a word that vice president biden used. some people saying he did a good job making specific rebuttals to congressman ryan's statements about romney's plans. do you feel the president is going to learn any lessons from that vice presidential debate? >> sure, look. anyone who watched president obama over the years knows he's a competitor. he likes to learn from the past and correct his course as he moves forward. he's watched the debate. he watched the vice president's debate this last week. i think you'll see a president obama who is ready to debate and call mitt romney on the facts. there is a clear choice in this election. the president has put out specific policies and plans. you've seen those policies and plans at work over the last four years. he talked about what he's going to do to build off those successes. we expect from mitt romney. he deviates from things he said

in the past, the president will call him on it. >> patti ann: so the polls show romney getting a bump from that last debate and the gop says it's because romney was able to disprove the caricature of himself that the obama camp has been pushing. what do you say to that? >> look, we've always said this will be a tight race. that's why it's so important that all of your viewers, no matter who they support, make sure they're registered to vote and get out to vote or early voting where possible. thity is that the reason people responded to mitt romney is he showed up and started advertising something that's different from what they're selling. it's not that there was a caricature out there. the american people have seen that truth on the stump. you don't have to listen to us. just listen to the candidates' own words. listen to the behind closed doors tape where he talks about the 47% of americans, that he believes are victims, that he wants to disregard. look at the policy position he put forward. he can try to walk away from those and those might score short-term points, but i think over the long-term, the american

people are smarter than that. they'll tune in to the facts and be well educated and ready to vote on election day. >> patti ann: tuesday is a town hall setting. we heard ed henry quoting somebody from the obama camp saying he believe -- i think it was a she, believes it's a good setting for president obama. how do you feel about that? >> look, president obama is best when speaking from his heart and answering questions directly from the american people. he's excited about the format that we'll see later this week. i think it will be a great chance for both candidates to be held accountable by actual voters in front of the nation. so the president is ready for it. as you said earlier, he's down in williamsburg doing prep. he'll come ready. he'll come ready to debate with mitt romney and again, and make sure he calls him when he deviates from the facts. >> patti ann: brent cool burn, thank you for joining us. >> thank you very much. >> patti ann: don't forget, fox news is your election headquarters. the only place to watch that

second presidential debate will be live in our full coverage begins at 8:55 p.m. eastern time this tuesday. >> gregg: fox extreme weather out there. parts of the central plains are on high alert. a significant threat for severe weather, including tornadoes from wisconsin all the way down through texas. meteorologist maria molina following it live in the extreme weather center. hi. >> hey. we're already starting to see some of that severe weather firing up. the first tornado issued in the last hour. that was for has dco county. that could have produced a tornado that warning has expired at the top of the hour. we do have more storms rolling through portions of the great lakes, in through parts of mo in and rough weather occurring across the oklahoma city area. we did have several severe thunderstorm warnings because there was a possibility of seeing large hail and damaging wind gusts with some of those storms. there is a number of watches in

effect. we have two severe thunderstorm watches. one across areas in kansas and another one across parts of texas. respectively they're until 10:00 p.m. central time and 9:00 p.m. central time. we have one tornado watch that does include parts of oklahoma and also north central texas. that means some of these thunderstorms that develop in this area do have conditions that are favorable to spawn tornado touchdowns. we'll keep a close watch on that and when warnings get issued for your area, tornado warnings, that's when you do need to seek shelt ever because it could be one on the ground. again, tornado watch in effect until 9:00 p.m. local time for parts of oklahoma and also down in through north central portions of texas. as that front continues to push eastward, missouri, parts of arkansas, will have to deal with the possibility of large hail, damaging wind gusts and even some isolated tornadoes. tomorrow the storm system will continue to push eastward, pulling in warm air northward and parts of ohio, indiana, illinois, in through kentucky and ten continue could also be

dealing with some severe weather. tornadoes possible, damaging wind gusts and large hail. >> gregg: be on the lookout. thanks very much. >> patti ann: parents in denver are keeping their kids a little closer today because of a potential murderer in their midst. the body of ten-year-old jessica ridgeway was identified yesterday. now police are searching for jessica's killer. listen to her family. >> i want to thank each and every person that was here, etch and every person that has prayed or been look for jessica. i would give my right leg to have them brought to justice and prosecuted, but to all extents of the law. >> patti ann: dan spring service live in westminster, colorado, with the latest details on jessica's murder. hi, dan. >> hi. it's an all out manhunt for a child killer many are calling a monster. hundreds of cops, local, state, federal are working this case and closely guarding any good tips or leads that they have been chasing.

we know they've received about 1500 tips and have checked out roughly half. they searched 500 homes and 1,000 vehicles and interviewed dozens of registered sex offenders. they know they're looking for a predator who has done a lot to avoid getting caught. >> i want the community to know that we are doing everything within our power to apprehend that individual and we are committed to doing everything within our power to keep our community and especially our children, our most precious commodity safe. >> the city of westminster, 100,000 people outside of denver s devastated. a vigil was held at the park where jessica was supposed to meet up with friends last friday to walk the rest of the way to school. it's something she did every day. but that day she never made it. the park is just a block away from her home. neighbors have told me that there are many kids in the neighborhood and now you don't see any of them outside. parents won't let them go out of

their sight. the whole area is basically on lockdown. >> the sicko is out here still. who knows where he's at? we need to find him. >> a crisis center has been put up in this city and also today, hundreds of purple balloons were released up into the air. purple was jessica's favorite color. patti ann. >> patti ann: thank you. >> gregg: the romney campaign is bringing a lawsuit in a key battle ground state over major concerns that some voters, like troops stationed overseas, may not have a say in this year's election. we'll tell but that. >> patti ann: right now, governor romney getting ready to take the stage in lebanon, ohio. as you can see, he has been drawing deafening crowds. but will the crowds make a difference come election day? we'll have a fair and balanced debate the capital one cash rewards card gives you a 50% annual bonus.

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>> patti ann: time for a quick check of the headlines. islamic cleric brought to new york from england to face terrorism charges must turn in his prosthetic arms every night in jail. he faces charge of conspiring to set up a terrorist training camp in oregon. jail officials say the metal hook on one limb could be used as a weapon, but they're trying

to arrange to get him new prosthetic arms at taxpayer expense. centers for disease control confirms the 15th death from the meningitis outbreak in the u.s. that outbreak is being linked to contaminated steroid injections. tv host and actor gary collins has died. he's remembered as the former master of ceremonies for the miss america packagents. he was 74 years old. after governor romney's very strong performance last week, his campaign says crowds and enthusiasm seems to be growing. in the past week alone, his campaign says at least three of its rallies exceeded 10,000 people. so should president obama be a bit worried about this? you're looking at a live picture. we'll go to the governor as soon as it begins in lebanon, missouri. alexis is the executive director pour the american values

institute. ford o'connell is here. let me start with you. so are the larger crowds that we're seeing commensurate with the enthusiast response to governor romney's debate performance which was watched by 70 million americans, many of whom were voters? >> you know, the larger crowds are great sign of governor romney's mounting momentum, trust me, i'd be worried if the crowds were getting smaller. but to be perfectly honest with you, he still is trailing president obama by about 15 to 20 electoral votes and essentially he's got a lot more work to do to convince americans he has a plan to make america recover faster than president obama and that his plan is on balance will actually improve the lives of all americans over the next four years. if he can do that. president obama is really in trouble. but right now, this whole thing could come down to ohio. >> gregg: alexis, it's been said either will rogers or oscar wild, i can't remember whom, but you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

and for many voters, that first debate was their first and maybe lasting impression. does that make it harder for president obama to try to regain the ground he lost? >> well, i think it might if that was the voter's first introduction to the president and one debate is one misstep in a long four years of the time that the president has actually been in the public eye consistently. >> gregg: but 70 million people saw it. and it was a thumping, by most accounts. >> without a doubt. i think the president did not do his best during that debate and i think he really needs to bring it on tuesday. but i don't think that's his first impression and i think that his message about economic recovery for the middle class, his message about reproductive health and women -- >> alexis, the first debate really hurt president obama and he's going to have to come out with his a game on tuesday. but mitt romney can't be

cautious either. he has to do well in the next two debates. >> gregg: you're the guy who brought up some of the polling data and electoral votes. and i was looking at two different sets of polls. the rasmussen polling data, as well as the maris "wall street journal" polling day -- take at that that say the same thing. romney continues to surge. he's now taken the lead in virginia, colorado, and new hampshire and florida. he's almost dead even ohio and he's really increased his lead in north carolina. ford, that's the trend line that your folks are look for, right? >> that is absolutely the trend line that we're looking for. but we also recognize that we are probable will he going to have to win ohio if mitt romney wants to win the oval office. there are 11 other ways to win on the electoral map without ohio. but all roads lead to ohio and what president obama is doing

right now, which is extremely dishonest in ohio, is saying hey, we rescued the auto industry. that's not true. george w. bush rescued the auto industry. president obama did was expand the auto bailout and by expands up and downing the auto bail out -- >> gm is alive in ohio knows that. >> gm is alive no thanks to you guys. >> gregg: hang on. you're talking over each other and nobody can hear you. i want to tell our viewers that we are going to listen in governor mitt romney's speech in lebanon, ohio, and we're paying attention to it because the crowd is enormous there. obviously their campaign truck and/or bus just pulled up. the governor has emerged and lots of cheers and a few hugs there. again, we're going to take his speech as soon as it begins. ly -- alexis, there is another polling met tricks. in the 11 swing states, romney

earns 49% support to obama's 48% and the undecided are only 3% and by the way, i double checked this, those very same swing states hold 146 electoral votes and obama won them four years ago. so boy, he's behind on his numbers there on the swing states, isn't he? >> look, we know this is going to be a big election. this is really going to come down to turnout. and when we look just in the state of ohio right now, 20% of ohio voters have already voted through the early vote process. two-thirds have gone to president obama. obama has a strong ground game. the obama for america and the dnc has been building on this ground game for the last four years. and so i'm not concerned about the turnout when it comes it a base election. >> gregg: i want to go live to lebanon, ohio. thanks so much to both of you. let's listen in now because rob

portman, who is very popular in ohio and has been preparing governor romney, at least in his first debate, is speaking about the governor. let's listen in. >> everything you possibly can in the next 24 days to insure that this man can be the next president of the united states! [ cheers and applause ] we can not afford another four years of barak obama. and guess what, ohio could make the difference in this race. that's what people are saying. they're saying that you can make the difference. are you going to make more phone calls for mitt? [ cheers and applause ] are you going to go door to door for mitt? [ cheers and applause ] are you going to put a sign in your yard like one of those for mitt? [ cheers and applause ] >> and let me ask you this, to would you please vote early? we can do that in ohio. voting has already started. in fact, you can go down to the board of elections on monday morning and bank your vote so that on election day, you don't need to worry about voting. you can help get other people to the polls.

will you do that? [ cheers and applause ] we need you. it's too important this year not for all of us to do everything we can possibly do. talk to people. tell them if they haven't decided yet that this election makes a difference for them and their families and tell them from your heart why it's so important to turn this country around and bring back the american dream. [ cheers and applause ] you know, when you talk to people, you're going to find they're listening because we've had a couple of great debates in the last ten days, you agree? [ cheers and applause ] paul ryan made us proud this week. mitt romney made us proud (no audio). >> gregg: we apologize. we just ever so briefly lost some of the audio live from lebanon, ohio. obviously senator rob portman of ohio is playing a critical roll in the romney campaign. he basically played the role of

president obama in the many, many days of predebate preparation for governor remain knee and portman is the republican party's go-to man for this sort of thing. since 1996, he's been involved in all kinds of preparation of mock debates. let's listen in now. >> my grandfather bought it back in the 20s. he dropped out of college and took a big risk. there was a gas station right smear barber shop right there. but he put his heart into that because he believed that with my grandmother and this great land, they could create something of value. they restored the golden lamb and president obama? my grandmother, the team at the golden lamb and my grandfather,

they built it. [ cheers and applause ] at the debate you'll hear president obama talking about the fact that he would like to continue doing what we've done the last four years. and folks, it hadn't worked very well, has it? but don't take my word for it. he'll say, my economic policies have worked because that's what he's saying on the campaign trail. well, let's think about that. when president obama ran for president, what did he say? i'm going to cut the deficit in half. you remember that? guess what? the deficit we just found out is another trillion dollars this year. we've a 50% increase in our debt. do you think it's working? when he pushed through that stimulus package in the united states congress, he said, if you only put a trillion dollars of hard earned taxpayer money into the government, we'll create so many jobs that we'll have the unemployment rate 50% lower today than it actually is. you think it's working? >> no!

>> he said pass my health care bill. he jammed it through congress without a single republican vote. he said we need to do this 'cause we can reduce the cost of premiums by $2,500. guess what? we found just found out from the people who look at this, congressional budget office, it's $2,500 increase in our premiums thanks to obamacare. do you think it's working? >> no. >> no, it's not working. but the good news is for ohio and for our country, we have a leader who has the experience. he's got the record. he has the character and he has the policies to turn this thing around, to bring back the american promise that we all know is there to ensure that middle class jobs in ohio can grow again and to get this country back on train and that's mitt romney. [ cheers and applause ] ladies and gentlemen, i'd like to you give a very warm warren county welcome to the next president of the united states, governor mitt romney!

[ cheers and applause ] >> thank you! thank you! thank you so much! i thought the crowds stopped right about there, but i looked behind, there is a screen back there and thousands of people beyond. thank you so much, lebanon! [ cheers and applause ] what a welcome. my goodness. thank you, senator rob portman for welcoming us here. i didn't realize he owns this place. did you know that? i think we should save for everybody that's here tonight a free dinner on rob portman. what do you think? [ cheers and applause ] [ laughter ] , just go in and say rob portman sent you. i want to thank anthony munoz for being here. i appreciate you being here and

your support. thank you, my friend! we're putting together an all-star team. i want to thank also steve shabbat. he's great congressman. make sure and reelect him, right? we need to get that done. and thank you to lieutenant governor mary taylor. she's been introducing me across the state of ohio, interestingly, we keep getting larger and larger crowds and she's done it again. thank you, mary, appreciate your help! thank you! [ cheers and applause ] now about a week ago i had a debate and i did enjoy myself. [ cheers and applause ] it was a great opportunity for the president and for me, for both of us to talk about our respective points of view. we had a chance to talk about substance. sometimes in debates, the moderators are jumping in and asking questions to try and get you off track. but this moderator let us speak about issues that people care

about, people heard both of what we had to say. it was a very helpful opportunity and i got to ask the president some questions that i know people across the country have wanted to have asked. i asked him, for instance, why were 23 million americans out of work or struggling to find a good job, that he spent his first two years trying to put in obamacare that killed jobs? i got the chance to ask him why would gasoline prices twice as high as when he took office. he cut the number to permits and licenses to drill for oil and gas on federal lands and federal waters in half. i got to ask, for instance, with trillion dollar deficits, with us borrowing money from people like the chinese, how in the world you could spend $90 billion -- $90 billion, which would have hired 2 million teachers, how we spent $90 billion instead investing in solar companies and green companies. by the way, he likes picking winners and losers, or as a

friend said, no, he just likes picking losers. and so the president gave his answers or his lack of answers as the case may be. i thought in some respects he explained himself best a couple of weeks ago when he said you can't fix washington from the inside. you can only fix it from the outside. well, we're going to give him that chance on november 6! [ cheers and applause ] there are other questions i'd like to ask, of course. i'd like to ask why we've gone from 32 million people on food stamps and over the last four years now, up to 47 million on food stamps. that's an increase of 15 million people. more than the population of ohio. how has that happened? what he wants to talk about, instead of these people on food stamp, instead of half the kids coming out of college can't find work or college level work, one

out of six americans is living in poverty, what he wants to talk about is how he can save big bird. [ laughter ] what i want to talk about is how i can help save the american family and get good jobs for the american people. [ cheers and applause ] so i've had the chance over this last week to go all over ohio from place to place and meet folks and his campaign keeps getting smaller and smaller as he talks about big bird and so forth and our crowds keep getting bigger and bigger. there is more of a crescendo and passion for getting a new president! [ cheers and applause ] we do agree that this is a critical choice for america. the question is going to be raised for the middle class of america, who can help you more? the president has his plan and the path he'd take us. i have my plan and the path i would take us. how i'd get good jobs and higher take home pay for middle income

americans. i want you to take a look at them both. the president, if he were to get reelected, there is no question but that he'd raise taxes. the vice president blurted out the truth a couple weeks ago, he said, we're going to raise them by a trillion dollars. i don't think anyone believes that raising taxes on small business and the american people will create more jobs. i can make this commitment to you. i will not raise taxes on middle class americans and i will not raise taxes on small business! [ cheers and applause ] if he were to get reelected, there is no question he's going to fully install obamacare. if i get elected -- by the way, that means that your premiums will go up $2,500 a year. that there will be an unelected board that ultimately tells what you kind of treatments you can have and not have to get reimbursed. you'll have people who lose their insurance, up to 20 million people who have insurance now with are going to lose it. employers are dropping people from full-time jobs and putting

them into part-time jobs, in part because of obamacare. if i get elected president, we're going to repeal obamacare and put in place real reforms that helps with the cost of health care. [ cheers and applause ] if this president gets reelected, why, i think he's made it very clear he's in favor of hundreds of billions of dollars of cuts to our military. with the sequester that the white house authored as well, why, that is hundreds of millions on top of that, roughly a trillion dollars in cuts to our military. that doesn't discuss jobs. that threatens our national security. secretary of defense said those cuts would be devastating. i can tell you this: if i get -- when i get elected president -- [ cheers and applause ] -- (cheers of mitt!

mitt! mitt! ) -- we are going to make sure we do not cut our military budget. our military must remain the strongest military in the world by a wide margin! [ cheers and applause ] one of the biggest differences between the two of us relates to jobs. rising take home pay. i mean, with 23 million americans out of work and struggling to find a good job with the median income in america having gone down each of the last four years, down now $4,300 a family, the same time, gasoline prices up, food prices up, utility prices up, health care costs up. but this has been a tough time for middle income americans. the vice president said middle income americans have been buried. he's right. and against that back drop, against that backdrop when the president asked what are you going to do to help people get jobs, he has nothing new to say. it's another stimulus.

how did the last one work out? you know. and then he wants to hire more government workers. nothing wrong with government workers, but that's not going to put america back to work. that, of course, he wants to make his investments in various businesses and so forth and then he wants to raise taxes. he does not have a plan that will get america working. paul ryan and i have a plan that's going to get america to create 12 million jobs in four years and get take home pay up! [ cheers and applause ] it's got five parts. and you've heard them, but i'm going to tell you again 'cause i want to you remember. five things we're going to do to get this economy going again. america's economy is going to come back and come back strong. going to get take home pay up and jobs growing again. get our kids coming out of college and high school able to get good jobs. got five things. number within, we're going to take full advantage of our oil, our coal, our gas, our nuclear, our renewables.

[ cheers and applause ] i'm going to double the number of permits on federal lands and federal waters and i'm going to make sure our regulators don't close off the capacity for us to use our coal and mine our coal and i'm also going to make sure we drill offshore and up there in alaska and we're going to bring that pipeline in from canada as well for our oil that we need. [ cheers and applause ] the second part of our plan, we're going to make sure we open up more trade. we're going to make more markets available for our manufacturers and for our service providers so we can go into other countries s and sell goods around the world. we're going to make sure when people cheat and china has been cheating, we're not going to let it go on. this president on friday, the administration was to put out the answer to the question, has china manipulated their currency or not? and he's supposed to designate that on friday.

they came out and said, we're not going to do that, actually. we're going to wait until the election to have that. you see, they've gone seven times so far and passed the buck on that. i'm not going to just pass that off. on day one, i believe label china a currency manipulator and get serious about making sure people don't cheat when it comes to trade. [ cheers and applause ] number one is energy. two is trade. number three, i want to make sure our people have the skills they need to be able to work in the jobs of today. so all these federal training programs in which there are 47. i'll take the money from those, send ohio back its fair share and make sure ohio has the training they need for ohio jobs. for the skills of tomorrow, we've got to make sure our schools are the best in the world. how in the world the nation that invented public education can have schools performing in the bottom third or bottom fourth, math and science, it's beyond

me. it's time pour us to make sure we put our kids and their parents and the teachers first and the teachers union will have to go behind. [ cheers and applause ] number four, you're not going to get entrepreneurs to take the risk that senator portman's grandfather took and borrowing $2,000 and restoring that building. you're not going to get entrepreneurs to take their life savings and put it into a new business or big companies to come and build new factories and put people to work unless they know we're not on the road to greece. if this president keeps on spending a trillion dollars more than we take in, that's the road we're on. and so i'm going to do something very different than he would. number four for me is we're going to cut federal spending. we're going to cap federal spending and finally get us on track to a balanced budget! [ cheers and applause ]

one more. we want to champion small business. we're going to help small business grow and add jobs! [ cheers and applause ] that means keep taxes down, get regulations to work for small business, get rid of obamacare. it's scaring jobs away. i'm going to help small business. we do those five things and jobs are going to come back in this country. i'm confident that our future is bright. it's not just the 12 million jobs i'm thinking about. it's our kids and their future. i know the people who are standing here tonight who stood here a long time to join us in this rally, you didn't come here just 'cause of me or even because of our party or conservatism. you came because you're concerned about america. [ cheers and applause ] it's always been a characteristic of this great country to know that the future is brighter than the past. to know we're passing on to our kids a land more free and more prosperous than that which we enjoy. that's coming back.

that confidence is coming back. i was so saddened to see that the majority of americans for the first time in history think the future is more bleak. not better. we can change that because what's in here, the heart of the american people is strong, the heart of the american people has been proven time and time again in test after test that regardless of the challenge, we stand and overcome those challenges. i know it's true. i've seen it. i've seen people in the most extreme circumstances who dig deep show that kind of courage. the great qualities of the human spirit, i see in my fellow americans day in and day out. i was in atlanta a few weeks ago for a big event and i saw kind of an opening in the crowd. as i went along shaking hands, i realized that that was because someone there was in a wheelchair. a big one, one of these motorized wheelchairs. i sort of pushed some people aside to see who it was. turned out it was a classmate of mine from graduate school. he had been involved in an

automobile accident. i think it was an automobile accident, and he was made quadriplegic. he was a very successful business person. and instead of throwing in the towel and becoming despondent, he kept involved in his business. he became active in raising money and working with a center for spinal chord injury research to make sure that other people would not suffer what he suffered. i saw the character of billy as i saw him that day and he moved his chair up, motorized it up next to me and i put my hand on his shoulder and i hadn't seen him for a while. i said, god bless you, billy. and i love you. and next day i heard he passed away. it's rare to get to say to someone you care about what you really feel. i love this country. i love the people of this country. i was at the republican convention a few weeks ago in tampa. i met a wonderful woman named

jane horton. she was packing a box of birthday presents and food and so forth to send to her husband in afghanistan who is a sharp shooter there, when the knock came at the door to tell her he had been killed. instead of her becoming depressed, she went to work to try and help other families who lost loved ones and on the day of the funeral, by the way, of her husband, she was dismade, i'm sure to see there was a protest. remember this, some of these people protesting funerals? and some misguided souls. she was asked, what do you think about these protesters? and her answer says something about the american heart. she said, chris gave his life so people like that can protest. this is the american spirit. this is the greatness of this nation and the people of this nation. [ applause ] let me mention one more. let me mention one more

experience which touched my heart. i was at a boy scout board honor and a court of honor is where boy scouts get their eagle award or other awards. i was in the boy scout program at the time, so i was up in the front of the room and we had this big formica table. i was sitting down at the end of the table next to the flag pole. and the person who was speaking was the scout mast prosecutor monument, colorado. he was telling quite a story. he said that the boy scouts in his troop had wanted to have a very special american flag. so they bought one with gold tassels and had it flown over the state capitol and also in the capitol of washington, d.c when it came home, the boys said now we want it to go up in the space shuttle. and so they contacted nasa and say, we would like our flag to go on the space shuttle. space is at a premium in space, you know. and yet, nasa agreed. they said okay, we'll take your flag with us.

as you can imagine, he said the boys were so proud, looking from their home rooms at school, watching the space shuttle launch, watching the rocket go up in the air, knowing their flag was on that space shuttle. then they saw it explode on the tv screen. and he said he called nasa about two weeks later and asked them had they found any remnant of their flag and they said no. and every week for several months he called and called. have you found anything? have you found any part of our flag? no, they hadn't, no, they hadn't. about september he said he was looking at an article in the newspaper and it talked about the debris that had been found at the challenger disaster and he saw something about a flag. so he called nasa again and sure enough, they had found something they wanted to present to him. so he got the boy scouts together and nasa came and made a presentation. it was a container, a plastic container. he said, we opened up the container and there was our flag

in perfect condition. then he said, it's on the flag pole next to mr. romney at the end of the table. and i reached over and put my hand on the flag and pulled it out and it was as if electricity was running through my arm. because i thought about those nasa astronauts, pioneers who lived for something bigger than themselves, who put themselves in harm's way so that we could learn, pioneering, new avenues of learning, understanding space in ways that might help their fellow americans and fellow men and women. that's the nature of the american people. we live for something bigger than our self. we look for opportunities to serve in our community, our school, our faith, our family, that american spirit i see in the dads and moms who are working two jobs these days, working two jobs so they can afford to give their kids the

clothes they need so they don't stand out at school. i think of the single moms who are scrimping and saving to put food on the table, particularly at the end of the pay period. i think of kids coming out of high school and college ho put aside their career and say, i'm going to sign up for the military 'cause my country needs me right now. i think of the moms and dads who at christmas time decide not to exchange gifts so they can instead afford a great christmas for their children. this is america. this is who we are. this is why at a time like this we come together. we face extraordinary challenges around the world and here. so many people out of work. so much debt. so many people in turmoil around the world. this is a time for america to have leadership that will help guide us together again, that will call on the greatness of the american spirit that, will do what it takes to restore the strength of our homes and our values, that knows how to

rebuild an economy, that will keep a military second to none! [ cheers and applause ] (cheering mitt, mitt, mitt). >> how i love those who served, how i appreciate their sacrifice memorial day i was in san diego, a great military town, marines and members of the navy. i was on a platform speaking and there were several veterans with me from the second world war. one of whom, who was closest to me, said that he was the lookout on the uss tennessee when the day of pearl harbor arrived. he looked out and saw the pilot coming in to drop arm amount on their ship. he locked eyes with that pilot and the blast injured him. he went on to serve for 33 years in the u.s. navy. we applauded him as we

recognized his sacrifice for our country. [ applause ] i think of that wonderful american, america the beautiful, that verse that says, oh, beautiful for heros prove in liberating strife, who more than self their country loved and mercy more than life. our members of our armed services, past and current, please raise your hand and be recognized. wow, look at that. [ cheers and applause ] this is a challenging time for america and it's a time of great opportunity. i make this commitment to you, when paul ryan and i get elected, we're going to do everything we can to keep this country strong with a strong military and a strong economy and values that own back to the very principles that made this

country what it is. i love america! i believe in america! i believe in you. i believe we're coming back. but i need your help as well. i need you to vote. i need to you get other people who voted for barak obama to join our team. we need ohio. if we get ohio, we're going to be able to take back america, keep it strong! keep it the shining city on the hill! thank you so very much! great to be with you! thank you! ♪ >> patti ann: that was mitt romney finishing up a speech right there in lebanon, ohio. crucial swing state that both candidates are hoping to win and this as we lead up to a big second presidential debate coming up on tuesday here in new york. now romney pressing the flesh, shaking hands, august see him with rob portman, who also introduced him at the beginning of the speech. let's get a brief reaction. we have a panel of women here

and not much time left after that. but we've got julie, fox news contributor, and former political advisor to senator frank lautenberg of new jersey. dede, gop strategist and mary walter, radio and talk show host. mary, let's start with you. you were watching that speech. what did you think? >> i think romney is at his best when he's talking about america and about his love for the country. he's kind of like channeling reagan. it's reaganesque. that's what people want to hear. they feel they haven't heard enough of that in the less four years. i think they felt that way. >> patti ann: dede? >> he's fantastic. he hit his stride after the debate. i have think it gave him the confidence he needed. he's running and winning now. the polls have shown he's gotten a bump. so that's fantastic. especially in ohio, he's doing well in ho had now. >> patti ann: julie, the democrat? >> i agree with them. i think romney -- this is the best i've seen him. it's good when he talks about

personal history, personal dealings with people. not about the facts. this is somebody who has criticize the sequester process. but his own vice presidential candidate supported the sequester. you know, reality doesn't match up. >> patti ann: our other two pammists shaking their heads. it's a short panel 'cause we wanted you to see the speech live. thank you for joining us. we want to thank gregg jarrett who is standing in the wings as well for this two hours. that's going to do it for us. arrest eller -- arthel neville and eric shaun taking over. >> gregg: i'll see you back here tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. eastern time. hope you have a great weekend, everybody. bye-bye bob...

oh, hey alex. just picking up some, brochures, posters copies of my acceptance speech. great! it's always good to have a backup plan, in case i get hit by a meteor. wow, your hair looks great. didn't realize they did photoshop here.

hey, good call on those mugs. can't let 'em see what you're drinking. you know, i'm glad we're both running a nice, clean race. no need to get nasty. here's your "honk if you had an affair with taylor" yard sign. looks good. [ male announcer ] fedex office. now save 50% on banners.